Vaccines have dramatically lowered the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. during the winter and spring, and warm summer weather will make it even harder for the virus to spread, according to a projection released this week by an influential model.
Even as Americans are expected to rapidly ditch masks following updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predicts virus deaths and cases will continue to plummet through the middle of summer.
But the model warns that millions of unvaccinated Americans will help give the virus "a large enough pool of individuals to sustain transmission" as the summer weather winds down. More contagious variants could worsen matters, the model warns.
Summer's end will also bring the vaccination requirements for many college students heading to campus. Currently more than 350 colleges across that country have required vaccinations for at least some students or faculty, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
In many other countries worldwide, however, the pandemic is heading in the wrong direction. India this week reported more COVID-19 deaths in a day than any other nation has at any point in the pandemic. And Argentina imposed its first strict lockdown of the year Saturday due to surging levels of infections and a soaring death toll.
"We are living the worst moment since the pandemic began," President Alberto Fernández said in a televised message Thursday.
Also in the news:
California no longer will require social distancing and will allow full capacity for businesses when the state reopens on June 15, the state's top health official said Friday.
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